1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to sunshields, to methods for making sunshields or shades for protecting the interior of motor vehicles against sun rays and blaze, particularly during outdoor parking, and to combined sunshield and poster systems.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
The following disclosure statement is made pursuant to the duty of disclosure imposed by law and formulated in 37 CFR 1.56(a). No representation is hereby made that information thus disclosed in fact constitutes prior art, inasmuch as 37 CFR 1.56(a) relies on a materiality concept which depends on uncertain and inevitably subjective elements of substantial likelihood and reasonableness and inasmuch as a growing attitude appears to require citation of material which might lead to a discovery of pertinent material though not necessarily being of itself pertinent. Also, the following comments contain conclusions and observations which have only been drawn or become apparent after conception of the subject invention or which contrast the subject invention or its merits against the background of developments which may be subsequent in time or priority.
Also, no preamble of any statement of invention or claim hereof is intended to represent that the content of that preamble is prior art, particularly where one or more recitatons in a preamble serve the purpose or providing antecedents for the remainder of a statement of invention or claim.
Also, no sequential recitation or listing in any claim, summary of the invention or other part hereof is intended as a limitation to the provision of any recited means or provision or performance of any recited steps or features in that or any other particular sequence, unless the claimed sequence is the or an essential feature of a claimed combination over the prior art.
As may be seen from page 181 of the May 1953 issue of POPULAR SCIENCE, attempts to "keep your car from heating like a greenhouse when you must park in direct sunlight," go back for many years. In particular, it was then suggested to cut white cardboard shades for all windows, making each shade 1/8" too wide or big, the idea being, "Spring them in place and they will stay put." Major problems of that proposal included the considerable skill and manual dexterity actually required for making and installing such cardboard shades as specified, and the fact that the combination of that teaching in effect resulted in a glass/cardboard laminate through which heat from the sun could transfer from the outside to the inside of the car without any substantial intervening air layer or circulation.
The same probably applied to the windshield heat reflector disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,880,461 by George Paul Flanagan, issued Apr. 29, 1975.
None of these proposals ever found any significant public use, not even after millions of my motor vehicle sunshields have been sold by my CARCOOL Company and by several licensees, as mentioned, for instance, in the article "Folding Car Shades Are a Red-Hot Item in Sun Belt," published Monday, Sept. 8, 1986 in the Business section of the Los Angeles Times. As therein confirmed, I am holding the patent rights for that kind of sunshield, as apparent from my U.S. Pat. No. 4,202,396, issued May 13, 1980.
Even though more than thirty million of my sunshields have now been sold, their operation and effect still cannot satisfactorily be explained by the state of the art of scientific technology. In an age where exponents of scientific knowledge carried the greenhouse effect into outer space to explain the workings of the universe, my sunshield simply defies the greenhouse effect which, in so many words, insists that "Once the heat is in (e.g. through the windshield and in the air space between the windshield and my unfolded sunshield), it has lost energy and cannot go back out where it came from." Yet, the fact observable on any sunny day is that my sunshield not only prevents sun damage to dashboards and car interiors, but also keeps the inside of cars measurably cooler during hot days.
In a development related to my efforts. U.S. Pat. No. 4,652,039 by Roger H. Richards, issued Mar. 24, 1987 to one of my permitees, discloses perforated circular thumb holes near each side of the shade; commenting that the thumb holes can be punched out, so that the shade may be more easily handled. However, that prior-art approach neither has become popular, nor are mere thumb holes of particular benefit.
In a completely unrelated development, people have become increasingly fond of expressing their feelings and preferences, or of attracting attention or promoting some cause, by holding up placards and posters presenting a message or statement. In today's mass society, people are anxious to identify themselves with all kind of worthy causes, teams, candidates, etc. This even has taken the form of organized activities during which a multitude of persons, such as spectators at a sporting event, hold up placards or posters with both hands, sometimes in an orchestrated manner for specific effect.
However, prior to my subject invention, these developments proceeded in an unrelated manner, which was understandable from the point of view of their different goals.
In an unrelated development, U.S. Pat. No. 3,627,272, by S. Friedberg, issued Dec. 14, 1971, disclosed a protective enclosure unit which is constructed in terms of suntanning and would be too bulky for efficient use in motor vehicles, even though adjacent to each upper panel ridge or edge there was formed in the respective panel an elongate slot or through opening. When collapsing the unit to a storage position, these openings were swung into alignment or registry to permit insertion therebrough of a person's hand for conveniently carrying the collapsed unit.
In a different vein, cardboard boxes have for years been provided with load carrying handles formed by bending a piece of the cardboard out of an elongate opening in the side of the box.